


The Sleeper's Kiss

by Kiraly



Category: Stand Still Stay Silent
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Fluff and Angst, Kissing, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 12:01:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13546908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kiraly/pseuds/Kiraly
Summary: Impoverished nobleman Emil Västerström has reached the end of a quest that can restore his fortunes. But if it comes at the cost of losing the man of his dreams - literally - he's not sure the reward will be worth it. Then again, it just might work out for the best.A Sleeping Beauty AU! Because we all needed more tooth-rotting Emil/Lalli fluff, right?





	The Sleeper's Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> So fun story: I've had the idea for this kicking around in my head for more than a year, well before Emil/Lalli bodysharing was an actual canon event. But since it's actually canon now, my brain has been more and more insistent that I actually write the thing. So when last week's [Synchonised Screaming](https://synchronisedscreaming.tumblr.com/) challenge on Tumblr featured a fairy tale theme, I couldn't stop myself any longer. I wrote the first part of this and posted it to [Tumblr](http://worldsentwined.tumblr.com/post/170255358254/the-sleepers-kiss), and have been working to finish it over the past few days. Enjoy!

The sun sank below the horizon, painting the hills red and purple as twilight fell. Emil dropped a final armload of branches on the pile next to his campfire; he had enough to last the night, surely. It didn’t do to make too large a fire so close to a dryad forest, anyway, even if he had made sure to only take fallen branches and to thank the trees for them. Better to be careful. On a quest like his, blundering around could get him killed.

Emil sighed and watched the sunset while he waited for his supper to cook. The view was marred by the castle protruding from a distant hill, a dark, jagged silhouette that seemed to eat the light. He should have been glad to see it. After all, he’d spent months on the road, gone through countless adventures to reach this point. Now all his efforts were paying off. Tomorrow he’d reach the castle, pass its final trials, and find his reward.

Tomorrow, Emil would kiss the sleeping beauty. He’d restore his honor and win the fair maiden’s hand, become a prince out of legend.

But tonight, he was tired and dusty. So he wrapped himself in his cloak and went to sleep.

* * *

 

“Are you ready for tomorrow?”

Emil sat up and stretched. Even though this was a dream, the rocks he’d been sleeping on still dug painfully into his back. “I think so. I’ve been going over everything you told me. Hopefully I’ll remember it all.”

The man crouched beside Emil’s dream form scowled. “ _Hopefully_ isn’t good enough. You can’t make any mistakes with this.”

“You’ve said that before, but that didn’t stop me,” Emil said with a rueful smile. “Good thing I had you to save me from my stupidity.” He’d thought he was going mad the first time he’d heard the soft voice outside of his dreams, but the words had kept him from walking right into a dragon’s lair. The next time Lalli spoke to him, to warn him of a nearby bear, he’d listened without hesitation.

Lalli did not seem reassured. “That won’t work this time. You _have_ to do this without me.” He buried his hands in his hair. “Please, Emil.”

Emil leaned toward him, concerned. “Hey, calm down. It’s okay, really! I promise I’ll do my best.” He tugged Lalli’s hands away and reached up to smooth his hair back into place. For someone who was probably a spirit or a figment of Emil’s imagination, Lalli was incredibly human sometimes. “I know this is what we’ve been working towards all this time, but there’s no reason to get all worked up. Why are you freaking out?”

“Mrrr.” Lalli looked away. “Because I can’t help you tomorrow. Once you go inside the castle, you’re on your own.”

_On my own?_ Emil had never really been alone, not since he’d first dreamed of Lalli and set out on this quest. He didn’t understand why Lalli had decided to aid him, but he’d come to rely on the spirit as much as he relied on his armor or sword. More than those, even, because the sword hadn’t helped him free the magic lynx from its trap, or taught him how to lay the undead hound’s bones to rest. Lalli had been with him every step of the way, and the prospect of doing without him made Emil uneasy.

“But…but that’s just for tomorrow, right? Once I wake the sleeper and complete the quest, I will still see you. Won’t I?” Emil patted Lalli’s hair again, this time for his own comfort.

Lalli gave him a long, opaque look. “After tomorrow,” he said, slowly, “I won’t come to your dreams anymore. You won’t need me.”

“But…” How stupid had he been, to never realize? Lalli was here to help with his quest, and now the quest was drawing to a close. Emil should have known Lalli wouldn’t stick around after that. Now he did, and the knowledge hurt. “But what if I don’t–finish the quest tomorrow?” _What if I don’t want this part to be over?_

“You will.” Lalli drew back, forcing Emil to drop his hands. “You will get through the castle. You’ll kiss the sleeper awake, and break the curse. You remember what I told you? The most important thing?”

Emil nodded, swallowing hard around the lump in his throat. “I have to kiss the sleeper no matter what.” Because the curse would try every trick to stop him. Emil worried less about that, and more about kissing some random girl he’d never met before. What if it didn’t work? What if it _did_ , and they didn’t like each other? He wasn’t so sure that being a magical alarm clock would automatically make him “true love” material.

But Lalli seemed utterly certain. “Right. As long as you do that, you’ll beat the curse. Now rest.” He settled back against a tree and wrapped his cloak around him. “I’ll wake you at sunrise.”

And sunrise would come all too soon for Emil. He didn’t want this night to end.

* * *

 

It all started when Emil Västerström, heir to a noble title and not much else, came of age. Traditionally, that would have meant a grand feast, with esteemed guests and lavish entertainments. Practically, he was celebrating in the only way he could afford: with a pint of beer in a run-down taproom.

“And I heard Aunt Siv and Uncle Torbjörn talking about marrying me off to some merchant’s daughter, can you believe it? They think it will restore the family fortune.” Emil took a swig of his beer. “But there’s no way it will work—the merchant _hates_ me, and probably his daughter does too. Anyway, no one in their right mind would marry into a family with more debt than pedigree.” Emil had long ago lost any illusions about how much his nobility was actually worth. Especially considering his present company.

Sigrun snorted and pushed her mug across the bar for a refill. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound like fun. If you’re gonna marry someone for money, you should aim higher. Do a quest! Rescue a magic princess or something, you’ll be rolling in gold.” Sigrun was always telling Emil he should run off and become a mercenary like her, or a knight-errant if he absolutely had to stick to his noble roots. Emil had never seriously considered the idea; it sounded like a lot of effort. But it did have a certain appeal.

“Right, a magic princess.” Emil rested his head on the bar and immediately regretted it as his hair got caught on something sticky. “Ugh. Where would I even find one of those?”

“You could always try to wake the sleeping beauty,” Mikkel said, topping off Sigrun’s drink. Emil might have been broke, but his drinking companion always had spare coin. “Probably good money in that.”

“The sleeping beauty?” Emil frowned. “That doesn’t sound real.”

“Oh, but it is!” Sigrun said, grinning into her beer. “I’ve seen the place. Moldy old castle covered in vines. They say there’s a princess inside, cursed by a jealous kade to sleep until woken by her true love’s kiss or something.”

Emil rolled his eyes. “Right. Definitely won’t be me, then.” He wanted to believe in true love, but he doubted he’d find it by kissing a stranger.

But later that night, as he lay in his drafty bedchamber and tried to drown out the sound of mice in the walls, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. There had always been stories of brave young heroes going off and finding destinies filled with magic and romance. He’d never seriously thought about doing something like that himself. But why shouldn’t he? There was nothing for him at home, just a crumbling manor house and a title no one cared about. He might not find true love, but whatever he found would be more interesting than what he had now.

Emil was still thinking about it as he drifted off to sleep. He dreamed, and in his dream a young man with ragged hair and a fur cloak approached him.

“You’re looking for the sleeper?” He asked. His pale eyes bored into Emil’s, as though judging his worthiness for such a quest.

Dream-Emil nodded. “I might as well, right?” Something about the other man made him want to prove himself. “It can’t hurt to try.”

The man folded his arms. “It can hurt a lot, actually.” But after a moment, he nodded. “Fine. I’ll help you.” He folded himself into a sitting position, and stared at Emil until he followed suit. “Here’s what you need to do.”

In the morning, Emil left home with a pack of provisions and a sword he could barely use. He didn’t look back.

* * *

 

Emil stared at the castle and tried to convince himself that the castle wasn’t staring back. “Are you sure this is the right place?” It looked a lot bigger close up. More ominous, too—the thorny vines covering it rustled quietly, but there was no wind. Emil wondered, not for the first time that morning, why he didn’t just turn and walk away. He could take up farming, or become a soldier. No one was _making_ him do this, after all.

_When have I ever been wrong? Yes, this is it._ Lalli’s voice in his head sounded cranky. And there was the answer to Emil’s question: he wouldn’t turn back because Lalli wanted him to keep going. Even though that meant losing Lalli forever. Much as he hated the thought, Emil knew Lalli would never forgive him if he turned back now.

“Okay, okay, I was just checking.” Emil sighed. “So...this is it. The end of the quest.”

_Mmhm._

“So we won’t...this is the last time we’ll talk like this?”

_That’s what I said, isn’t it? Come on, you’re losing daylight._

Emil shook his head. He didn’t know what he’d expected—this was _Lalli,_ after all. But he’d hoped for _some_ acknowledgement that their months together had meant something. “Fine, then. I guess this is goodbye.”

Lalli didn’t answer. A minute passed, then two, and finally Emil gave up on waiting. He took off his pack and stowed it in some bushes a short distance from the building. According to Lalli’s instructions, he wouldn’t need it once he got inside. He took his cloak off too, but instead of leaving it he turned it around so the lining faced out. The thick wool garment had been a gift; he’d spent a whole day helping a shepherd track down some lost sheep, enduring Lalli’s comments about idiots with more hair than brains. But the cloak always kept him warm and dry, and Lalli admitted, grudgingly, that the rune pattern woven into the lining would protect him from more than rain.

Emil slipped the cloak over his shoulders, took one last look around, and stretched his hand up to touch the castle wall. The vines parted before him. Emil pushed forward, searching along the wall until he found a door.

“See, this isn’t so bad,” he said. He probably didn’t _need_ to say it out loud, but he’d gotten used to it with Lalli looking over his shoulder. But no—he shouldn’t think about Lalli now. He had to rely on himself. “I can do this.” He opened the door, stepped through, and promptly tripped over a body.

“EEAUGH!” Emil scrambled to his feet, smacking against the wall in his haste to get away. _I never should have come here, this place is full of corpses and I’m going to die just like them and—oh._ The person on the ground was warm; their chest moved up and down. “Sleeping,” Emil said. Of course. The curse had sent everyone in the castle to sleep. Lalli had told him that over and over, and he’d managed to forget it already. Stepping carefully over the sleeping guard, Emil kept going.

Even knowing that everyone in the castle was asleep, it was still creepy walking through the silent halls. There were bodies slumped everywhere, guards cradling their weapons and servants who had fallen asleep in the middle of polishing the silver. It was hard to walk by them all and do nothing. Part of him wanted to stop and try to wake them, or at least go through the castle and make sure no one had gotten hurt when the curse hit. But Lalli’s instructions had been very clear: climb the stairs to the tallest tower, find the sleeper, wake the sleeper with a kiss. Don’t stop for anything.

If the halls were troubling, the stairs were worse. Vines blocked nearly all the light from the windows, and the shadows danced at the edges of his vision. Emil remembered a conversation with Lalli from months ago, when he’d asked about ways of getting past the vines.

_“Can’t I just...I don’t know, light them on fire? Even magic plants are bound to burn eventually, right?”_

Lalli had snorted and rolled his eyes. _“Don’t be stupid. You can’t stop a curse with fire. You’d only make it angry.”_

At the time Emil hadn’t believed him—he’d only scrapped the fire idea because the people inside might get hurt. But now, he thought he knew what Lalli meant. The plants felt _alive,_ like they were waiting to see what he would do next. He was doubly glad for the protective cloak when he reached a landing where the vines had burst through the window. He had to wade through them, and was left with the impression that they clung to his boots.

But despite the castle’s creepy magic, nothing barred Emil’s path. He climbed the stairs, did his best to ignore the cursed sleepers, and slowly made his way to the top of the tower. The door at the top was carved with a pattern of leaves; it reminded him unpleasantly of the vines, but it was only wood. When he pushed it open, it complied with a rusty creak.

The room on the other side was just like Lalli had described. High windows let in shafts of sun, creating a circle of light in the center of the room. There was a silk-draped bed, and someone lying on it. Waves of pale hair spilled to the floor, a sign of years gone by with no one coming to break the curse. There was no trace of age on the sleeper’s face though, only the faint frown of troubled dreams. Emil knew that frown.

“No.” The castle’s curse must be tricking him. He’d been lulled by his easy passage, and now he faced a final test. Somehow, the magic had gotten into his head to show him the impossible. What other explanation was there?

_Find the sleeper,_ Lalli had said, repeating the words until they thrummed in Emil’s bones. _Wake the sleeper with a kiss. Break the curse._ It had all sounded so simple. But he must have missed a step somewhere, because this wasn’t right. It _couldn’t_ be. Surely Lalli would have told him about this, after everything they’d faced together. Wouldn’t he?

Emil sank down onto the bed with a helpless laugh. _Kiss the sleeper._ Lalli’s instructions had been clear. True love’s kiss would break the curse, and Emil was the one to do it. _No matter what._ He’d trusted Emil to follow through, despite all Emil’s protests that he wouldn’t just fall in love with some stranger. And Emil had trusted Lalli enough to do as he asked up until now. If he wanted answers, he would have to trust him one more time.

So Emil leaned down and brushed his lips against the sleeper’s in a gentle kiss.

Lalli’s eyes opened. He blinked a few times, then his mouth twitched into a tiny smile. “You did it. You woke me up.”

Emil pulled away. “You _lied_ to me!”

“No!” Lalli pushed himself up, but fell back with a growl as his hair caught on the bedpost. “I just...didn’t tell you.” He struggled to untangle himself, then gave up and held out his hand. “Give me your sword.”

“Why? So you can _actually_ stab me in the heart?” Emil shook his head. “No thanks. Is this all some kind of joke to you? Did you even need me to come here?” All those months of camping out, facing down strange magic and untold dangers. It hadn’t been easy, and sometimes all that had kept him going was the thought of completing the quest and earning his reward. That, and knowing Lalli was there to support him. _But he wasn’t, was he? He was just using me._

Lalli grimaced. “No. I don’t joke like that.” Seeing that Emil wasn’t about to hand over his sword, Lalli reached down and pulled a knife from his boot instead. He brought it up to his chin and slashed it across the curtain of hair. The long strands parted, and when he was finished he looked just like he had in Emil’s dreams: ragged and annoyed. “I never lied. It had to be you who broke the curse.” He swallowed. “I knew as soon as I saw you.”

“Knew what? That I was an idiot who would jump through hoops to help someone I didn’t even know?” And that was exactly what he had done, wasn’t it? Emil had been the fool Lalli had taken him for. “Tell me why I shouldn’t walk out the door right now, Lalli.” He took a step back.

“Don’t—it’s not safe! The curse—” Lalli pushed to his feet.

“Curse? You said I _broke_ the curse. But I guess that was a lie too.” Emil turned and reached for the door.

“Emil, _no!”_ Lalli darted forward, but it was too late. Emil’s hand touched the wood.

The door exploded. Emil flew backward, striking the far wall. He couldn’t move, couldn’t _breathe,_ even when he tried to. Everything was pain and noise and the heavy scent of magic.

From the doorway, someone laughed. “I see you’re awake. How did you manage that? Was some questing knight finally stupid enough to kiss you?” The speaker stepped closer. “So many of them turned away, you know. They came looking for sleeping beauty and found _you_ instead. It was a perfect plan, until now.” A rustle of fabric—Emil cracked his eyes open just enough to see a tall figure standing over him. Their form blurred and rippled with magic, making it hard to focus. “He didn’t manage to undo the rest of my spell though, did he? Only the part holding you. I would have stopped him sooner if he’d tried, of course, but it still speaks poorly for his character.”

It was hard to keep a coherent thought in his head, but Emil felt a twinge of annoyance. He _would_ have tried to help if he’d known how, but Lalli had said—oh. Lalli had _known._ He’d forbidden Emil from helping anyone else because he knew it would draw the kade’s attention. And now the kade had come anyway.

“Still,” the kade said, “He made it this far, and it’s quite annoying to have to come here to mend my sleeping curse. What shall I do with him?”

“Don’t touch him!” Lalli’s voice came out sharp with anger. “Don’t you dare.” In spite of everything, his words sent a wave of relief through Emil. Lalli was okay. But he was standing up to this powerful kade who had cursed him, and he was all alone.

Evidently, the kade had the same thought. “Or what? Your knight has fallen. Everyone else sleeps. And you—you’re just a boy with a knife who’s been sleeping for a hundred years. What can _you_ do?”

Soft footsteps; Lalli came to stand in front of Emil. “He was never meant to wake anyone else. Only me.” There was a shiver in the air, and Emil could see a faint shimmer of light form around Lalli. “And I’ve had a hundred years to practice magic while my body slept. Plenty of time to learn all about your curse.” The light grew, and a great rustling noise grew with it. It was like all the vines were moving at once.

“No. No! You can’t—” The kade’s voice cut off abruptly, and so did the invisible force holding Emil. Air rushed into his lungs, and he sat up, gasping. He still hurt—he _had_ hit the wall, after all—but it was nothing compared to the crippling pain of the kade’s binding. The kade screamed, lashing at Lalli with some invisible force. Lalli flinched, but called on his own magic in reply. The light brightened; wind tore through the room; vines sprouted from the floor and withered away. Lalli and the kade stood locked in a magical battle that Emil couldn’t understand. But he knew he couldn’t just stand by and let Lalli fight all on his own.

So Emil stood, shaky and uncertain. The kade had his back to him, and neither he nor Lalli seemed to notice Emil’s movement. He’d lost his sword, and he doubted it would do much good against magic anyway. So he drew the cloak from his shoulders and turned the rune to face the kade.

Lalli’s eyes widened just a touch. He started to shake his head—and the kade turned.

“What?” It was all the kade had time for. Emil flung the cloak, and the kade recoiled—directly into the path of Lalli’s next spell. There was a flash of light and a clap of thunder that shook the room and knocked Emil to the floor. When he opened his eyes, the kade was gone.

“Emil!” Lalli flung himself down, cradling Emil’s head in his hands. “Why would you do that? He could have killed you!”

Emil couldn’t help himself—he laughed. “Why do you think?” He thought he could probably sit up, but he wasn’t ready for Lalli to stop touching him. “Why did I do anything these past few months?”

Lalli’s face twisted. “I’ll get you your reward. I promise.”

“I’m not talking about some stupid reward.” Emil reached up to touch Lalli’s hair. It was nicer now, even though it was disheveled from the fight; the long hair hadn’t suited him at all. “I did this for _you.”_

“Oh.” Lalli closed his mouth, opened it, closed it again. He smoothed Emil’s hair one more time, and then he folded up, boneless, to lie with his head tucked under Emil’s chin. “Good.”

Emil hesitated for a moment, then wrapped his arms around Lalli and held him close. For a while they simply lay there, quiet except for the sound of their breath. Eventually, Lalli said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t...know if it would work. If you knew.”

“You could have told me,” Emil said. Then he thought about it, and amended, “Probably? Eventually? Maybe not from the beginning, but…” He didn’t know how to say it without sounding like an idiot. “But these past few months, I was so scared. I didn’t want to kiss whoever was sleeping in this tower. I only wanted to kiss you.”

Lalli raised his head. “Do you still want to?”

Emil smiled. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop.”

Lalli smiled too, and brought his lips to meet Emil’s. There was no curse to break, but the kiss was magical all the same. It was sweet and soft, hungry but unhurried. Not the end of a quest, but the start of something far better.

They might have stayed there for another hundred years, but after a time there were sounds of stirring elsewhere in the castle. With the kade gone, the curse had gone too, and the other sleepers had woken. A particularly piercing squeal echoed up the stairs, and Lalli pulled away from Emil with a frown.

“What is it?” Emil asked. “Something wrong?”

“My family,” Lalli said. “That’s my cousin, Sir Tuuri. She’ll probably like you. My other cousin, King Onni, won’t like you at all, but he doesn’t like most people.” He rolled off of Emil and stood up. “There won’t be any privacy once they get up here, you know. They’ll ask a million questions.”

Emil got to his feet, doing his best to brush the dust from his clothes. “I don’t mind questions, but...I wish we didn’t have to do this right now.” They had months of lost time to make up for. He knew Lalli’s cousins had been deprived of him for far longer, but he didn’t really care. “It’s too bad you can’t magic up a rope for us. We could leave the questions for another day.”

Lalli looked at Emil, and followed Emil’s gaze to the large tower window. “Hmm. That’s not a bad idea.”

* * *

 

When the elder Hotakainens reached the top of the tower where their cousin had been sent to sleep, they found it empty. There was a rope trailing out the window and a note scrawled on the silken bedspread.

_Found love. Broke curse. Going on adventure, back sometime._

Out in the forest, Emil adjusted his pack over the fur cloak Lalli had found him to replace the one he’d lost. He turned to Lalli with a smile. “Ready?”

Lalli pulled Emil in for another kiss, then straightened his own cloak and nodded. “Let’s go.”

Hand in hand, they set off for the next adventure.

**Author's Note:**

> Random bits of headcanon I wanted to include, but couldn't figure out how to work in:
> 
> *The kade was an old enemy of Ensi's, and cast the curse on Lalli because he saw him as the weakest member of the Hotakainen family. Too bad for him all Hotakainens are total badasses.  
> *Onni absolutely hates being a king, but is stuck with it. WEH.  
> *Sir Tuuri may or may not be the same Sir Tuuri who later meets a red-haired and unconventional damsel in distress in my story [_The Knight And The Princess._](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5822077) I think the stories could fit together, but they wouldn't necessarily have to.  
>  *That trapped lynx Emil mentioned rescuing is not _necessarily_ connected to Lalli in any way, but it might be! Maybe part of his magic was wandering around in lynx form. Or maybe Emil just can't stand to leave a poor animal trapped. (Also, it's a tiny reference to lilithqueen's [_dear fellow traveler_](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7295776).)
> 
> Also, the plot elements of this definitely take inspiration from Robin McKinley's _Spindle's End_ , which is my favorite Sleeping Beauty retelling, and T. Kingfisher's _Bryony and Roses_. The latter is actually a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but features a creepy sentient rose bush, so there's a connection.


End file.
